Tuesday, November 17, 2015

IT News Head Lines (CNET) 18/11/2015

Ford announces Sync Connect smartphone app - CNET
The
app works with Ford's new embedded modem, first arriving on the 2017
Escape, to bring vehicle functions to the owner's smartphone, no matter
where they are.

Samsung offers teens free vacation, as long as they...go on, guess - CNET
Technically
Incorrect: A highly entertaining -- or highly dubious -- ad from the
French arm of Samsung tries to bargain with something we all hold
precious. Very precious.

Pandora's latest buy sets it up to play the exact song you want - CNET
Pandora
agrees to buy most of smaller streaming service Rdio for $75 million in
cash, which clears the way for the online radio giant to let you listen
to the specific track you want to hear.

GPS devices show half-marathon was a lot more than that - CNET
Technically
Incorrect: A half-marathon in Thailand turns out to be four miles
longer than it should have been. It took gadgets to explain to runners
why they were so tired.

Oxford's latest 'word of the year' is...an emoji? - CNET
The
Oxford Dictionaries has declared the most important addition to the
lexicon for the year, but for the first time ever, it's not actually a
word.

See a skydiving gamer, and the couch he's sitting on, drop from an airplane - CNET
As
part of an Nvidia publicity stunt, a daredevil takes to the air while
seated in a mock-up of a living room and playing games on an Android
device.

Microsoft and Code.org want to teach kids to code with Minecraft - CNET
The
popular block-building-sandbox game is creeping into the third annual
Hour of Code, a worldwide campaign to spark students' interest in
programming.

Watch celebrities compete to be biggest Star Wars fan for a cause - CNET
"Sherlock"
actor Martin Freeman tries his best Yoda impression in a sketch for
charity Children in Need. It features Warwick Davis and many other
British celebrities, as well as R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8.

Our crowdsourced sci-fi novel is halfway done, and tackling the afterlife - CNET
The
world is helping CNET write an original science fiction book in just 30
days. Our story of conflict and discovery between future universes has
taken off, but there's still time to help wrap it all up.